Plot
In November 1984, Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius is given command of Red October, a new Typhoon-class ballistic missile submarine with a "caterpillar drive", rendering it nearly undetectable to passive sonar. At sea, Ramius secretly kills political officer Ivan Putin and relays false orders to his crew that they are to conduct missile drills off America's east coast. American Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Dallas, which had been shadowing Red October, loses contact once the sub's caterpillar drive is engaged.
CIA analyst and former Marine Jack Ryan is based in London, but returns to Washington, D.C. After consulting with Vice Admiral James Greer, the deputy director of the CIA, Ryan briefs government officials on Red October and the threat it poses. Upon learning that the bulk of the Soviet Navy has been deployed to the Atlantic to locate and sink the sub, the military staff conclude that Ramius plans a renegade nuclear strike.
Countering this view, Ryan hypothesizes that Ramius, a native-born Lithuanian widower with few remaining personal ties to the Soviet Union, actually plans to defect with the sub, to the United States. National Security Advisor Jeffrey Pelt gives Ryan three days to confirm his theory before the U.S. Navy will be ordered to find and sink Red October. Ryan sets out to rendezvous with an aircraft carrier in the mid-Atlantic.
An unknown saboteur causes Red October's caterpillar drive to malfunction during risky maneuvers through a narrow undersea canyon. Aboard Dallas, Petty Officer Ronald "Jonesy" Jones, a sonar technician, discovers a way to detect Red October using his underwater acoustics software, and the boat plots an intercept course. After a hazardous mid-ocean transfer, Ryan is able to board Dallas, where he attempts to persuade its captain, Commander Bart Mancuso, to contact Ramius and determine his real intentions.
The Soviet ambassador informs Pelt that Ramius intends to launch a missile attack on the U.S. and asks for help in sinking Red October. That order is sent to the U.S. fleet, including Dallas, which has reacquired the Soviet sub. Ryan remains convinced that Ramius plans to defect with his officers and finally convinces Mancuso to contact Ramius and offer assistance. Ramius, stunned that the Americans correctly guessed his plan, accepts Mancuso's offer. Ramius then stages a nuclear reactor "emergency", ordering the sub to surface and his crew to abandon ship. After a U.S. frigate is spotted heading right for them, Ramius submerges, leaving his crew in life rafts, telling his medical officer, Dr. Petrov, who stays with the crew, that Ramius and his remaining officers will scuttle the Red October and go down with the sub. Ryan, Mancuso, and Jonesy board Red October via a rescue submarine, at which point Ramius turns over his sub to the Americans and requests asylum for himself and his officers.
Red October is then ambushed by Alfa-class submarine V. K. Konovalov, commanded by Ramius' former student, Captain Tupolev. Konovalov fires upon Red October with a torpedo which Ramius destroys by causing it to impact Red October before it can arm. As the two Soviet subs maneuver, one of Red October's cooks, Loginov, reveals himself to be the saboteur and an undercover agent for the Soviet GRU. He opens fire on the bridge, fatally wounding first officer Vasily Borodin, before retreating to the missile bay, intending to ignite a missile engine and destroy the ship.
Loginov is pursued by Ryan and Ramius, and he wounds Ramius before being killed by Ryan. Konovalov launches a second torpedo which is set to arm immediately. Dallas is able to divert it toward herself and evade by launching countermeasures and conducting an emergency blow to the surface. The torpedo reacquires Red October but Mancuso maneuvers towards the Konovalov, which the torpedo strikes and destroys. The crew of Red October, now rescued, witness the submerged explosion from the deck of the U.S. frigate. Unaware of the second Soviet submarine, they believe that Ramius has sacrificed himself and scuttled Red October to avoid being boarded.
Ryan and Ramius, their subterfuge complete, navigate Red October to the Penobscot River in Maine. Ryan, despite his own fear of flying, falls asleep on a flight home to London next to a teddy bear for his daughter.
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